History of the Bonington Theatre
in
The Bonington Theatre in
The present theatre is the second to bare the
name. The original theatre stood on a site on the corner of Nottingham Road and
Arnot Hill Road, opposite St Albans Road , just on the edge of the main
shopping area.
It was the first purpose built theatre and
cinema in
about 1911
At the time this theatre opened, the library,
the building with the central tower, was on one corner and the theatre with its
ornate balustrade was on the other.
The architect was Mr William H Higginbottom who had offices in
The client for the project was a fellow
councillor and land owner Mr Joseph Wardle of Brentwell Farm.
The work started on building in September 1912
and was completed in 13 weeks with the grand opening on Boxing Day the same
year.
500 people attended the opening which consisted
of” The Wedding Present “ supported by a travelogue, several shorts and slap
sticks and a short stage show.
Prices were 3d and 6d (1.25p and 2.5p in
today’s money) for this you could get two shows nightly and 2 changes weekly.
Although initially designed as a cinema, from the start it had a 50/50 program
of film and live shows.
The films were of course silent at this time
and a single pianist provided the music.
Saturdays mornings were the children’s time
with films and live shows, competitions and contests.
about 1925
In 1929 the theatre was extensively altered and
rebuilt. This was carried out in a unique way with a new outer shell being
built around the old theatre, to the design of the architect George
F Grimwood.
This work enabled performances to
continue until the majority of the work was completed.
The object was to construct a full stage with
flies, dressing rooms and full stage equipment as well as up date the cinema
side for the new talkies.
The new building remained closed for only 10
weeks while the final transformation took place including the installation of a
balcony.
This work resulted in the seating capacity
being raised to 1000.
The new theatre and cinema licence were granted
on Friday the 31st of January 1930 and the building renamed the
Bonington.
The balustrades had now given way to columns in
the Greek style as shown in the below picture.
The new theatre still offered the same program
of live entertainment which it mixed with films. The reopening program
consisted of “The Singing Fool” with Al Jolson and the stage show was headed by
The Hengler Brothers and the comedian Jimmy James.
During the 1930s stage shows were just as
popular as films with artists such as the Four Asttounders, Johnny Walters, and
his wonder dogs, the Great Bingalee, The Johnson Brothers, The Rego Twins and
Billy Merricks revue Ace High.
Pantomimes appeared regularly including Humpty
Dumpty, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Dick Whittington.
Al Wright’s circus performed there and brought
three elephants with them who walked from the railway station, then at
Daybrook, to the theatre.
Modern cinema came to
This poster from the 1950s advertising the
Bonington Theatre
was on a site outside Bonington house on High
Street
After the war in the 1950’s Cinemascope was
installed, and some limited refurbishment carried out.
Films like The King and I and Carousel
were staged but the theatre slowly declined.
The Bonington however continued to provided the
people of Arnold with entertainment until it closed its doors for the last time
after its final production, the showing of the film “Nowhere to Go “ on the 30th
of March 1957.
. Being demolished in 1963
For a while it was used as shops and storage
and in 1959 it was sold.
It was finally demolished in April 1963 and a
new block of shops, in the typical 60s style, was built in its place.
Today the site is occupied by an Italian
restaurant and a Motor parts shop with offices over head..
The site of the old
Bonington Theatre 2003
The modern Bonington theatre dates from 1982
when the present Leisure Centre was built. There was a lack of performance
venues in the area at this time, and so it was decided to incorporate a theatre
into the
After a gap of nearly 20yrs the Bonington
Theatre was reborn to live again, the people of
The present Bonington
Theatre Stage
Many things have changed over the years and the
Theatre has progressively been improved.
Today it is one of the one of the busiest and
most popular theatres in the area, with some 100 shows a year being staged
It provides a mixed program of dance, drama and
music as well as the occasional film and by doing so keeps up a tradition in
One of the old residents of